Red Devil sluggers roll the Tide in twin bill

Tuesday

Apr 30, 2013 at 10:15 AM

PHIL PERRY

RAVENSWOOD - The Ravenswood baseball team swept a double header from the visiting Sherman Tide on Saturday at Wright Field. The Devils took game one in a mercy rule induced five inning affair, 19-4 and squeezed out an 11-10 victory with some seventh inning magic in game two.

The Tide rolled into town boasting one of the best players in Class A baseball in West Virginia. John Hunter, a five tool slugging lefty first baseman and knuckle ball slinging hurler made his presence known on the mound and with the stick.It was the Class AA Red Devils’ Devon Crews who shined brightest on this day with the glove and the bat. The slick fielding shortstop did receive quality help from his teammates as they washed the Tide back to Boone County, convincingly.

Ravenswood (15-13) feasted on the other Tide Hurlers and took advantage of a mind-boggling barrage of Sherman fielding errors en-route to the twin bill sweep.

Sherman, who dropped to Class A in 2012 are still wrestling a rugged AA schedule that also includes three class AAA schools.

The Tide struck early in game one, as Hunter led off and slapped a slow roller between the mound and first. He immediately displayed his speed down the line as the lefty beat the throw for an infield single.

The Tide plated three runs in the inning and it looked like an uphill battle for the Red Devils. It was not. The Devils responded by mashing Tide pitching and making Sherman pay for their poor fielding in the outfield.

The Devils plated four runs in the bottom of the inning highlighted by RBI hits from Devon Crews and Isaac Crow, which landed the Red Devils in the catbird’s seat.

The tide managed just one more run and Ravenswood rolled to an ugly 19-4 victory.

Jesse Brown, who hurled a no hitter versus Tyler Consolidated earlier in the week, was the winning pitcher. He went five innings giving up only two hits and four runs (one earned).

Brown displayed poise on the mound and managed to keep the damage from the dangerous Hunter to a minimum.Freshman Logan Jarrett mashed Sherman pitching on this day with four hits, three RBIs and three runs scored.

In the hitting department for the Red Devils, Crews was 2-for-2 with three RBI’s and two runs scored, Jesse brown helped his own cause with a hit and three RBIs, Ben Johnson had three hits and three RBIs, Thomas Sturm had a hit, scored three runs and two RBIs, Heath Burgess had a hit, two runs scored and an RBI, Isaac Crow scored three runs on two hits, Nick Ballard scored two runs on two hits and notched an RBI and Trey Hatcher walked three times. Burgess stole two bases in the game and Ben Johnson swiped a bag.

Hunter led the Tide with two hits, an RBI, two stolen bases and two run scored.

In game two, Hunter was on the mound for Sherman and was a question mark to throw on this day due to a fatigued arm. The knuckleballer put a halt to the hit parade the Red Devils displayed in game one. Throughout the season, he has struck out 51 batters through 37 innings of work while being armed with a plus fastball, curve and slider to compliment his knuckler.

Ravenswood’s Heath Burgess took the mound for game two. Burgess is a quality pitcher in his own right and showed the ability to pitch out of three 2-out jams in the game.

The Tide jumped out to a 4-1 lead through four innings on the strength of strong pitching and solo home run to right field from Hunter. The southpaw left the mound after the fourth and Ravenswood jumped on Tide pitching like a moth to a light.Ravenswood plated four runs in the fifth to take a 5-4 advantage thanks to timely hitting from the middle of the Ravenswood batting order. Crews, again was at the center of the Ravenswood comeback. P.J. Click and Ben Johnson mashed in two RBIs to compliment a three hit, two RBI game from Crews. Thomas Sturm, who has caught fire over his last three games, drove in a run in the contest as well.

It’s worthy of noting that Crews made a diving stab at shortstop that was simply incredible. Ranging to his left, he robbed a Tide hitter of a hit and an RBI in a crucial fifth inning Sherman Rally.

Ravenswood took control in the bottom of the seventh after the Tide tied the game in the top of the inning and edged Sherman for a 11-10 game two victory.

Heath Burgess hurled a complete game for the Red Devils and gave up 10 runs (five earned) on 11 hits, five walks and three strikeouts.

“I am pleased with the results, we hit the ball awfully well today,” said Red Devil coach Wes Swain. “You want to be playing your best baseball at this time of year (approaching sectionals).”

“Ravenswood has a good hitting ball team and we made too many mental errors in both games,” said Sherman Coach Jeremiah Pettry.

The Devils played at Roane County. Look for results in a future Edition of JN.

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